All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) To Move Supreme Court Seeking Remedial Measures

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Unhappy with the figure of exclusion of names in the final NRC, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has decided to approach the Supreme Court seeking remedial measures.

Addressing a press conference at Swahid Nyas here on Saturday, Chief Advisor of AASU Dr Samujjal Bhattacharjya said the students’ organization was extremely happy when the NRC update exercise was started four years ago under supervision of the Supreme Court. He said it was first-ever exercise which aimed to determine citizenship through a legal process and the AASU extended full support to ensure publication of an error and Bangladeshi-free NRC.

“But we are frustrated after publication of the final NRC as the exclusion figure of names did not reach near the official figures of illegal foreigners living in Assam as announced by the Centre and State Government on various occasions. There are reasons to believe that the mammoth NRC updation exercise somewhere went wrong. We believe that it is an incomplete NRC. We will approach the Supreme Court seeking remedial measures,” Dr Bhattacharjya said even as he maintained that the AASU has unflinching faith in Supreme Court.

Dr Bhattacharjya said the Supreme Court will decide on the ways to remove the flaws in the final NRC. He said the future work on the NRC should also continue under the monitoring of the Supreme Court.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi claimed that the State Government and the Centre got enough scope to find out the illegal immigrants, but they failed because of their inactions.

“We had demanded that only 10 documents be entertained to claim inclusion in the NRC, but the State Government allowed 15 documents. Also, the government did not file objections against suspected illegal Bangladeshis included in the complete draft NRC, which could have led to their exclusion,” Gogoi said.

The State Government and its Border Police did not refer suspected illegal immigrants to the Foreigners’ Tribunals and the administration continued transferring its officials involved in the NRC updation process, AASU president Dipanko Kumar Nath alleged.

“The Assam and central governments failed to prepare an error-free NRC and lost a historic opportunity,” Nath said.

Also Read: AASU expresses strong dissatisfaction over exclusion figures in final NRC list

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